Jamaica is known for be­ing something of a paradise on Earth, and the country wants to keep it that way. A pair of projects recently initiated by Jamaica Public Service Ltd. (JPS) – the island’s sole distributor of electricity – are boosting the nation’s renewable energy resources and reducing its reliance on fossil fuels. With the expansion of a hydroelectric plant and the establishment of a wind farm, Jamaica will be on the cutting edge of renewable energy for a long time.

Jamaica has a history of being ahead of the curve with energy. The country first received electric power in 1892 – only 13 years after Thomas Edison invented electric light – making it one of the first nations in the world to have electricity. Today, JPS serves a customer base of more than 580,000 on the island, providing more 630 megawatts (MW) of electricity from eight hydroelectric plants and four fossil fuel plants out of a total island-wide installed capacity of 830 MW.

It was a desire to reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels that led to the construction of two current projects: the Munro Wind Farm and the new Maggotty Hydro Power Plant.

“The government of Jamaica has promulgated a national energy policy, and one of the directives of that policy asks that 15 percent of the energy generated should be from renewable energy sources by 2015,” explains Valentine Fagan, vice president of generation expansion. “Those [projects] are directly related to helping us achieve those targets. What it means in the long run is that they would reduce our total dependence on imported fuel.”

Maggotty Hydro

Power Plant

One of those projects is JPS’s new Maggotty hydroelectric plant. The current facility was built in 1957 and received a significant overhaul in 2002. It currently provides approximately 6 MW of power to Jamaica’s electricity grid, but the new plant will add about 6.3 MW of capacity to the system.

Alston Watson, expansion projects manager, explains that JPS doesn’t foresee any major challenges with this project, and expects it to be completed on time by July 2013.

“The new Maggotty plant forms part of JPS’ ongoing efforts to diversify its fuel sources with the addition of more renewable energy options,” JPS says. “JPS is currently seeking to identify a contractor to carry out the construction of the first major hydro plant expansion to be done in over 30 years.”

Watson says that the potential obstacles and challenges to the project are: obtaining regulatory approvals and permits, effectively managing the various stakeholder’s expectations, ensuring that the contractor adheres to the project schedule and conditions, and effectively addressing the effects of adverse weather conditions. How­ever, he does not anticipate any substantial impact to the project from these challenges.

“If these challenges are not overcome in a timely manner, it could impact the project more in terms of delays,” he says.

Not only will the expansion provide more jobs, Watson says, but consumers will see a reduction in their electric rates if all other variables remain as is. With the fluctuating prices of fossil fuels, he says hydroelectric power is attractive. “When you compare that with [fossil] fuel that you have to import, you can see that the reliance on hydro is far better,” he says.

Munro Wind Farm

JPS has utilized hydroelectric power for more than 50 years, and now it is developing a new source of energy that it hopes will become as much a part of its operations as hydro. The Munro Wind Farm has added another 3 MW of renewable energy to the nation’s power grid since coming online in late 2010. The US$9.3 million project consists of four wind turbines built to withstand Category 5 force hurricane winds, the company says.

Watson says this is JPS’ first foray into wind energy, and it figures to become a larger portion of the service’s plans in the future. Fagan says JPS hopes to expand the wind farm to generate 20 MW in the future, and Watson says a wind study is being conducted right now to determine the feasibility of an expansion. Assuming the results of the study are favorable, any expansion of the Munro Wind Farm would begin in 2013.

Not only will the Munro Wind Farm project reduce Jamaica’s dependence on foreign fuels and reduce pollution, but Watson says it also will help make JPS a more efficient organization. The lessons learned from this and the Maggotty project, he believes, are expected to help JPS complete future projects faster and more efficiently.

“We consciously approached them from a project management perspective,” Watson explains, adding that the project management approach will be how JPS handles similar projects in the future. “We try to view these (project management techniques and processes) as tools to assist us, and we have found that these work well for us as we execute these jobs.”

Bright Future

JPS is leading by example, as well. Fagan says other private power producers also are looking at their own renewable energy projects to connect into the Jamaican power grid. How­ever, he adds, renewable energy could be more incentivized to spur further growth of renewable energy sources in the private sector.

Nevertheless, JPS is excited about the possibilities inherent in its two new renewable energy projects. Not only do they help satisfy the government mandate, but they also will help keep Jamaica one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

“They are, in our opinion, a step in the right direction,” Fagan says.